The Illinois State Government has until Friday to pass a budget.
The Illinois State Government has until Friday to pass a budget.
Mark Glennon of Wirepoints says the pain is only beginning.
The founder of the website that covers business and financial news for Illinois told the Chicago City Wire that the recently passed state budget contains no good news and in fact will only make residents angrier.
“I think it will backfire badly in the not so distant future,” Glennon said.
Wirepoints founder Mark Glennon
The Democratic-crafted budget does not deliver needed reforms on property taxes or anything else, Glennon said. What the 600-page bill that raises taxes does contain is a number of things General Assembly members had only hours to consider.
“It's shocking to see the surprises coming down one after another,” Glennon said, noting an increase in the gasoline tax and changes to positions of municipal bondholders, as well a reduction in pension contributions to state pensions. “It was probably an unavoidable necessity, “but it sure wasn't disclosed properly.”
Discussing the environment in which state planners will uphold a budget that raises income and corporate tax rates, Glennon warned of a lack of any meaningful reform and suggested state officials need to recognize the needs of an overtaxed constituency.
“Higher taxes without reform just won't fly in Illinois,” Glennon said. He called the last-minute rollout of the bill “utterly scandalous” and said only an elite group of legislators knew what was in the bill prior to voting.
Glennon called Republican votes for the bill “baffling” and said Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) instituted a “diabolically masterful” plan in achieving bipartisan vote numbers both for and against the budget.
The strategy, Glennon said, protects House Democrats in some of the more conservative districts. In upcoming House races, he said, those Democrats can say they opposed the budget bill.
On the other hand, he said, Republicans who voted for the bill will “pay a heavy price” in upcoming elections.
Income taxes have increased to 4.95 percent from 3.75 and corporate tax rates jumped to 7 percent from 5.25 percent, along with approval of a $36 billion spending plan.
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